Mccarty Hires Ally As An Aide Delray Official Picked For County Position

July 30, 1991|By LARRY BARSZEWSKI, Staff Writer

Round, round, get around, Frank Spence gets around.

Spence, whose bureaucratic career has shifted in Delray Beach`s changing political winds the past three years, landed back with an old ally on Monday.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Mary McCarty, a former Delray Beach commissioner, hired Spence as a part-time aide only a month after he was replaced as the city`s Community Redevelopment Agency director.

``It`s for however long Frank can be here,`` McCarty said. Spence will split duties and a $26,000 salary with Alan Tarlow, another McCarty aide. He will be paid $12.52 an hour.

``I love the activity and working inside Palm Beach County government,`` Spence said. ``It`s fortuitous that I`m available now.``

Spence, 55, has a long resume: city manager of Miami Beach and North Palm Beach, county administrator in Alachua and Putnam counties; assistant city manager of Pensacola and Park Forest, Ill.; and head of administrative services at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Saudi Arabia.

Tarlow had requested a smaller work load for personal reasons, she said.

Spence came to Delray Beach in 1988 and headed development services under City Manager Walter Barry, who had McCarty`s support.

Spence resigned shortly after the City Commission fired Barry and hired Malcolm Bird. Spence said he could feel ``political retribution`` coming because of his close relationship to Barry.

But Spence was only out of a job two weeks. He was hired in December 1989 as executive director of the city`s Community Redevelopment Agency. That arrangement lasted until June, when the agency hired a new director with a stronger real estate and development background.

Spence still serves as executive director of the city`s Downtown Development Authority -- a 10-hour-a-month position that pays $500 monthly.